Something Wicked this way Comes
by Catie Kerwood
Summary: In the bowels of Riddick's new ship lives something ancient. Its been sleeping peacefully for the past fifty years...until Riddick woke it up.
1. I

Riddick stepped on board his new ship, he got it for a really low price, and I mean really, really low. He was surprised to see it in better condition than he thought it would be for such a low price. The former owner had given him one warning before finalizing the purchase.

"Never, and I repeat never go into the second cargo hold. Other than that, its all fine." He said and signed the papers. Riddick nodded folding the papers up and sticking them into a pocket.

"Why don't I want to do that?" he asked.

"There's something in there in cryo-stasis that isn't pleasant." The former owner said and wished him good luck before heading to his wife and his new life. He went into the cockpit and launched, breaking atmosphere.

Over the weeks he heeded the former owner's warning and didn't go into the second cargo hold, but his pesky curiosity started to nag at him. Arming himself after recalling the cautioned fear in the former owner's eyes when he told him what was in the cargo hold, he went to the second cargo hold and pressed his palm into the scanner. It beeped and the door slid back revealing darkness, an eerie green glow coming from a cryo tube. He removed his goggles and looked in it seeing a woman inside wrapped in cryogenic plastic, a breathing apparatus hooked to her mouth and nose, her hands chained in front of her, the chain hooked to an eyebolt in between her feet, which were also chained together. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rising and falling in a smooth steady pattern. She didn't look particularly threatening, he's killed more threatening people than her. She wasn't that tall, maybe 5'8 or 5'9, medium build, long arms, legs and torso. He looked at her hands, long slender fingers, wide palm, and medium length well maintained nails. He looked back at her face, delicate cheekbone structure, short chin, smooth jaw, her eyelashes were long and curved and from the look of it she was a very pale Caucasian with long dark brown hair.

Riddick cracked open the tube and tore away the plastic, he removed the breathing device and she breathed on her own, still asleep. Her nose was small with slender nostrils and her bottom was lip was slightly fuller than the top, which was pretty much a thin line. Her eyes snapped open and before he could react he was on his back on the floor with her sitting on his chest pinning his arms, one of his own knives pressed into his neck the remains of the chains hanging from her wrists. He swallowed and she pressed harder. She perked an eyebrow at him and with her hand moving in a blur, knocked him out.

The road to consciousness was long and hard. When he finally did wake up he noticed that he was still in the cargo hold, the woman sitting across the room watching him. Checking for his weapons he found them gone and looked at her again, she had them strapped to her own body. He tried to sit up but when the muscles and tendons in his neck tensed hot pain flared through his body from a spot on his neck. He laid back down and put his hand to his neck, it stung and he pulled back looking at his hand, there was a small amount of blood on it. Ignoring the pain he put his hand to his neck again and felt the wound. There were two puncture marks on it that was still slowly seeping blood. Movement catching his eyes, she was suddenly sitting on his hips, she leaned over and licked his neck. Riddick felt the two wounds close instantly. She took her place back across the room and continued to watch him. Finding it easier to sit up he did and looked right back at her.

"What's your name?" he asked and she perked an eyebrow at him.

"Usually when something like this happens the person usually asks me what the hell am I. Not what my name is." She said, she had a slight accent that he didn't recognize. "My name is Victoria Greco. I already know your name." She said and leaned back against the wall giving him the mental image of a big cat resting peacefully, but still very aware and very dangerous. That's what she was, she was a predator, what kind he wasn't quite sure of.

There was a drop of blood on the corner of her mouth and her tongue flicked out licking it away, he saw her swallow then smile tiredly.

"What were you doing in there?" Riddick asked moving his head at the cryo-tube.

"I was put in there until my maker came for me. He entrusted my life in a human, a mortal. One he trusted. He told him that in fifty years if he wasn't back to sell the ship and me along with it." She said and he stood, the room spun and he found himself sitting down again. "Blast, I knew I took too much." She said and in an instant she was by his side helping him stand and keeping him upright. "Tell me something Mr. Riddick."

"How do you know my name?"

"I saw it as I fed from you. Now tell me this...why did you go down there?"

"I was curious." He said, by now they had left the second cargo hold and were walking down the short hall to his room, she must have seen that too because she knew the way.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"What?"

"Nothing, just an extremely old saying."

"How old are you, exactly?"

"I'll say this one thing. I look good for my age."

"So you don't know you're true age."

"No, I do, but if I say it it'll make you feel really young."

"How old are you?" he asked looking at her daringly.

"I'm a little over five thousand, give or take a century." Victoria said and he looked at her.

"That does make me feel really young."

"I warned you. I was twenty-two when I was brought over. I've seen empires rise and fall, complete civilizations disappear with time, wars and plagues. You ever read anything by Anne Rice?"

"Who?"

"Guess not. I have some of her books in with my belongings." She said and pushed open his door, they hobbled over to his bed which he laid on and she sat on the edge looking at him.

"If I fall asleep, will I wake up with holes in my neck again?"

"In the first awakening, it's crucial to have human blood. I can sustain myself in other ways. Sleep Mr. Riddick, sleep." she said putting her hand over his eyes and brushing his lids down, he soon fell asleep.

When Riddick woke up he felt Victoria curled up against him, her face buried in his neck, her breath cold against his skin. He could feel her slow heartbeat against his arm, her hands around his wrist. Her skin was cool and hard, he looked at her to see her eyes closed. She exhaled a shaky breath and ceased to breathe, her heart stopped and she went very still and her very cold grip on him loosened. He rolled her onto her back and pressed his fingers against her neck, pulling them away when he felt no pulse, she was dead. One look at his chrono told him one reason, on any planet in the sector they were in the sun was rising. That particular part of...her mythology seemed to be true. Her mouth opened and he pushed up her top lip seeing pointed fangs, her canines and the teeth right in front them and the same with her bottom jaw. He ran his finger along them and pulled away at the sharp pain, a drop of his blood fell into her mouth and she swallowed reflexively. He pressed on the cut on his finger until it stopped bleeding and continued to look at her.

Her skin was deathly white like marble, her lips colorless. He took one of her hands and examined them, the fingers were long and slender, almost skeletal with crystal like fingernails, the nail bed long. The veins in her wrist were thick and protruding. He ran his thumb along them to her pulse and almost pulled back when he didn't feel one. Riddick lowered her hand and got off the bed leaving her to rest, or something. He took a shower and set his chrono to go off when 'sunset' happened. He spent the day moving her things into the spare room, including a long extra wide coffin of polished cherry wood. In it he found a rosary, curious he pressed the cross into her palm, the skin did not burn or sizzle. Her hand closed around it and he left finishing the job. He took the bed out of the room and replaced it with the coffin, opening it and finding it lined with black silk.

He suddenly had the urge to climb in it, just to feel what it felt like. But he wanted her to be in it if he did, to feel her arms around him, pressing her to him as she died only to come alive again with the setting sun, to have his head on her chest and listen as her heart stopped beating. Glancing at his chrono he went back into his room and sat down in a chair facing the bed, the second the alarm went off her eyes fluttered open and he pressed a button silencing it. She looked down at the rosary still clutched in her hand in confusion.

"I found it in your coffin, I thought it was weird for something such as yourself to have it. Especially since you were alive before Christianity was formed." He said and Victoria put it in her pocket getting off of the bed.

"It belonged to a German monk in the twelfth century, one I was rather fond of actually, he knew what I was and didn't care. He was executed for heresy and communicating with an agent of the devil. I mourned him for over a hundred years, clutching his rosary and praying for getting an innocent killed. I had told him that there was no God or Satan, no heaven or hell, just existence. I wanted to change him but my maker kept me from it. He said that the monk was too fragile in the mind, that living forever would drive him insane then I would be forced to kill him. I saw his reasoning and watched as my beloved monk was burned at the stake. The last thing he said before death took him was my name." She said and her mind flashed back hundreds of years.

_She was standing in a crowd stationed around a stake, a man in brown robes tied to it. Flames caught the robes and he started to scream._

_"Victoria!" he screamed over and again and she wept while she watched him die._

She vanished, the bedroom door hanging open.

Riddick found her in the 'kitchen' sipping a glass if dark liquid that by scent he knew was blood. But something had been added to it, distorting the smell and making her grimace when she sipped it.

"Pigs blood with a shot of whiskey. Doesn't get much better that this." she said and downed the rest, color flooded her cheeks and she looked alive. She rinsed out the glass and when she passed he took her hand, it was warm and soft. "Drinking blood is the same effect as having it my system originally, it makes me appear alive. But I'm not alive Mr. Riddick, I died a long time ago. You'd be best to remember that." she pulled her hand out of his and walked away. He looked in the refrigerator and saw several clear bottles of blood with labels along with an amber bottle of thousand-year-old Irish whiskey.

He took out the whiskey and poured himself a small glass, sipping it slowly because thousand-year-old whiskey is a close relative to fire water. He downed the rest of it and resisted a cough, blinking away the reflexive tears that formed in his eyes, he definitely won't be doing that again. Looking for her he found her in her coffin on its raised platform, her hands laced behind her head, headphones strapped to her ears. He could hear loud music coming out of them. Victoria looked at him then back at the wall in front of her. He went to the side and looked down at her. She took off her headphones and looked up at him.

"What was his name?" Riddick asked.

"Whose?"

"The man who made you."

"Elias." She said and sat up pushing herself up so she was sitting on her pillow at the head.

"Do you even know where he is?"

"No, I mean I know he's still alive, I can feel him in my head, but I just don't know where he is."

"Do you know why he put you in cryo-stasis?"

"He said that something was after him, something that would destroy me if I was with him when it caught up with him. He did it to protect me, he loved me." Victoria said and he continued to look at her. "What?"

"Your bone structure is amazing." He said and ran his thumb along her cheekbone.

"Is that your way of saying you think I'm pretty?"

"Yes." Riddick said and she shrugged.

"Thank you, I guess." She said and he continued to look at her. "Could you not do that please? It's making me uncomfortable." He left and went into his own room, lying down on his bed.


	2. II

This is just going to be a short little chapter on how Victoria feeds in normal (ha! Normal, now that's funny) circumstances, and the effect it can have on the person, Riddick in this case.

One night, three weeks later, Riddick watched as she woke from her dead-like sleep. She stretched with her arms above her head and looked at him.

"Why do you watch me wake every night?" Victoria asked and he shrugged.

"I just find it very interesting that you can basically die and come back to life again." Riddick said and she nodded at him. "Do you remember being alive, I mean being human?"

"Sort of, its kind of blurry, I can almost hear my parents and siblings voices, but its like I'm trying to listen to a radio station that has bad reception. I can kind of remember my home, but not really. I can't even remember my family's faces." She said and he nodded. "Now I am very hungry." She said and he stood from the chair he was sitting in.

"I'll go get you something." He said but she shook her head.

"Pigs blood is nice and all. But every once in a while I need something warmer."

"I can put it in the microwave."

"Riddick, you're not understanding what I'm saying." Victoria said, she had dropped the 'Mr.' a while ago at his request. "Sometimes I need something with a little more substance." He pointed a finger at her.

"No fucking way vampyre, I'm not going to open a vein just because you have a hankering for human blood."

"It won't hurt, that much anyway."

"Right, the last time you bit me I woke up and it hurt like hell."

"I hadn't eaten in fifty years, I was close to being a revenant. Just be glad I wasn't, or else you wouldn't have woken up at all." She said and he looked at her warily. "Riddick, do you wish me to starve? If I try to drink pig's blood I'll vomit it up. I need to have human blood every once in a while, just to stay normal, or as normal as I can be."

"Are you sure it won't hurt?"

"It'll be like getting blood drawn, I promise." She said and held her hand out to him. "Give me your wrist." He put his hand in hers and she turned it over, grabbing his wrist. He watched as she brought it to her lips, she opened her mouth and he saw that her canines were elongated, that sight alone made him want to jerk his wrist away, but he stayed still. Riddick hissed as her teeth broke through his skin and her mouth locked over the wound. He could feel as blood was drawn out of the wound, her tongue massaging the skin. He could see her throat work as she swallowed, suction was formed on the skin of his wrist and she started to make mewling sounds. This reminded him of something carnal and he felt his body react, a moan escaping his throat. She pulled back and licked away the blood that settled on the skin, she ran her tongue over the wounds and they closed instantly, leaving a faint scar. Victoria licked away the small amount of blood on her bottom lip and looked at him. "That wasn't so bad now was it?"

"I need to take a shower." He said his voice hoarse and walked stiff legged out of the room and into the bathroom.

About a half an hour later he found her still in her room, reading a large ancient looking book.

"How was your cold shower?" she asked and he sighed making her laugh.


	3. III

Okay, I have the first 9 chapters of this story written already. But instead of submitting all the nine chapters in one go, I'm going to submit a new chapter when I get reviews for the previous one.

Sunset came, and she woke. He watched as she rose, ribs first out of her coffin. She gracefully stepped over the side and he watched as she moved, no there's only one word for this, as she _slithered_ towards him. The movement so smooth, so unified it mesmerized him. She sat in front of him and looked up at him, coming to her knees she wrapped a delicate hand around his neck and brought it to her lips. He felt her breath on his skin a second before her teeth broke through.

Riddick came awake with a jolt, sitting upright in his bed. His chrono showed it two minutes before sunset, one minute, zero wake up time. There was a knock on his door and it opened before he could respond. Victoria stuck her head into the room and looked at him.

"You weren't there when I woke." She said and he got up.

"I didn't have time, I just woke up a couple minutes ago." Riddick said and she nodded stepping into the room.

"Hmm..." she said tilting her head to the side, her brow furrowed.

"What?"

"Fear is coming off of you in waves, what are you afraid of Riddick?" she asked.

"Nothing." He said and she wagged a finger at him.

"No use trying to lie, I can smell it. Adrenaline is coursing through your blood stream, I can hear your heartbeat it's almost a constant hum. Blood is rushing to your muscles, making them denser, as if you were getting ready to fight or run. What has made you this scared?"

"I had a bad dream, that's all."

"What about?" she asked and he looked away. "About me, about me biting you."

"We're going to New Mecca, I need to make my annual visit to some people I know."

"Will I be meeting them?"

"You'll be dead to the world when I visit."

"Deliberate?"

"One of them is a teenager, the other, a holy man. I don't know how they would take the appearance of a...of someone such as yourself. They may overreact."

"Are you protecting me from them Riddick?"

"I'm protecting them from you Victoria." Riddick said and the danger level in the room rose but after a while she bowed her head at him.

"Of course Riddick, after all I'm just an animal." She said and she was gone. Shaking slightly he sat down on his bed with his head in his hands.

_If only I could guarantee the same protection for myself._ He thought, the whole feeding event three days and night's prior was a real eye-opener. It showed him just how much control she has over him, over his very life. She could've drained him dry that night and jettisoned his body out the air lock. She didn't, but she could've. For the first time since he was wounded, the creatures closing in on him, he was scared for his life. He just wanted to curl up in his bed and wish all the monsters away, especially the one living down the hall. After a while he got up and went into the bathroom taking a shower, reveling in the feel of the hot water running down his unusually chilled skin. He finished, got out and dried off putting his sweatpants back on again.

Riddick went into the kitchen to find a glass full of slightly pink water in the sink, the smell of pig's blood still fresh in the air. Suddenly feeling sick to his stomach, he skipped getting something to eat and went back up to his room lying on his bed again, burrowing under the sheets and blankets, trying to get warm. He slipped into catnap mode and lay there for hours; he came into his full senses as his door opened.

"Riddick?" he heard Victoria ask. "Are you okay? You've been in bed all night."

"I'm fine." He said and curled up tighter.

"Sunrise in is a couple of minutes, I just wanted to...I'll see you tonight." She said and was gone again, a few minutes later the alarm on his chrono went off as sunrise came and he got up. Determined to regulate his sleeping pattern again he stayed awake the entire day and went to bed a few minutes before sunset. He heard Victoria open his door but she didn't say anything, just backed out letting him go to sleep.

He woke when the sun rose and set the coordinates for Helion Prime.


	4. IV

During the trip he avoided Victoria as much as possible, sleeping at night and awake during the day. He managed to avoid her so completely that he didn't know if she noticed that he was.

He landed in an empty field on the outskirts New Mecca and put his hooded cloak on, pulling the hood over his head.

(A/N: I have begun to incorporate little things from The Chronicles of Riddick into this, the cloak for example.)

He walked through the bustling city of New Mecca; not one person gave him a second glance. Riddick opened the door to Imam's house.

Imam walked through the crowds towards his house, people greeted him as he went past and he acknowledged them with a nod. He opened the door to his home to find it utterly dark, despite the bright sunshine outside. The blinds were closed and he could see a dark figure sitting in one of his chairs in a corner. Silver eyes glowed faintly at him, then blinked out for a moment, then reappearing.

"You always forgot to lock your door. Not a safe thing Imam." He heard and there was a hissing sound as a match was struck, fire exploded at the tip and it was touched to the wick of a candle. The wick caught and the match was blown out. Imam looked at the familiar face of Richard B. Riddick, the candlelight making his eyes glow more.

"You were always the one for theatrical entrances." Imam said and Riddick stood, leaving his cloak on the chair.

"I hear it's a certain teenage girl's birthday. Sixteen I think it is."

"It is."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs, I'm surprised she didn't come down when you came in. She usually does when someone comes in." Imam said as Riddick walked past and up the stairs.

"Jack?" he heard Riddick ask.

"Riddick!" he heard Jack exclaim. Then there was an 'oomph' as Jack probably gave him a flying tackle-hug. They came down the stairs with Jack on his back, her arms around his neck and he was holding her legs.

"You're getting too big for these rides kid." He said and set her down.

"You say that every year." Jack said with rolled eyes. "So what did you get me?" she asked with a child-like smile and he handed her a wrapped package. She unwrapped it quickly.

"Careful Jack." Riddick warned and her eyes brightened when she saw it.

"A shiv!" she said and threw her arms around him again. "Thank you Riddick! I'll go put it with the others." She took her arms from around him and ran up the stairs. When she was gone Riddick felt a prickling on the back of his neck, something inside of him was telling him to run. The front door swung open and banged against the wall, a wind made the plants by the stairs flutter. Riddick's head whipped around to see that the sun was gone.

"Shit." he said and Imam looked at him quizzically.

"What?"

"I waited too long, she must have followed me here."

"Who?"

"Call Jack down here before she..." there was a bang as something was dropped upstairs. "Makes an appearance. Jack!" Riddick yelled.

"I'm okay!" he heard her say, there was a small gasp from upstairs and a wind brushed past them. Victoria was suddenly sitting in the chair that he had been in earlier.

"You've been avoiding me." She said and he pushed Imam behind him.

"How did you find me?"

"I followed your scent, it wasn't that hard really. It wove an intricate path through the city like a silken cord."

"How poetic. Leave now."

"Not until after I get to know your friends. I already met Jack upstairs, cute kid. I saw the assortment of knives on her wall, they all carried your particular mark of manufacture." She said and stood from the chair. "This must be Imam." She stepped towards him and Riddick stepped between them. "You don't have to protect them from me. I could've killed Jack when I was upstairs, but I didn't. She's a little shaken, but she's fine. In fact why don't you call her down?"

"Jack, get down here." Riddick said and Jack came down the stairs. When she stood next to him he checked her neck and both her wrists, finding no marks he put his hand on her cheek in relief.

"Riddick, do you really think I would've done anything to her?" Victoria asked and he looked at her.

"Leave Victoria." He said and she looked past him at Jack.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you." She said.

"You were just there, you just appeared. What are you?" Jack asked and she opened her mouth to answer when Riddick grabbed her arm, attempting to drag her out the door.

"I said leave." He said and suddenly he was on his back across the room, pain flaring from the center of his chest.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on me in violence again mortal!" Victoria snarled and he was reminded of just how non-human she was. She was suddenly gone and the front door slammed shut.

"I think I pissed her off." Riddick said getting to his feet and putting on his cloak.

"What was that? What is she?" Imam asked and Riddick opened the door pulling the hood up.

"Death." He said and left.


	5. V

"How dare you!" Riddick yelled when he had gotten back to the ship and found her sitting in his room. "How dare you go there!"

"I'm not the monster you think I am Riddick. I could've killed them in an instant, you included but I didn't." Victoria said and there was a long silence. "Elias is dead. I felt it when I woke tonight, he was killed in his sleep."

"Do you know who killed him?" Riddick asked.

"No. I couldn't feel him in my head when I woke and I knew that he was dead. And this time he won't come back."

"Do you think that it'll come after you now?"

"I don't know. But if it does I'll lead it away, if it does I'll kill it."

"How old was Elias?"

"Over ten thousand."

"If he couldn't do it, what makes you think that you will?"

"Because I'm stronger." She said and her eyes closed, she cocked her head to the side. "Go to the cargo hold"

"Why?"

"Because Jack is there." She said and Riddick left going to the cargo hold, Jack was indeed there, her bicycle against one wall.

"What are you doing here Jack?" Riddick asked and she looked at him.

"I wanted to see her again, there's something about her Riddick. Something not normal. What is she Riddick? And how did you come to meet her?" Jack asked.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked and she gaped at him.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.

"Answer my question."

"This morning, now answer mine."

"Come on kid, lets get you something to eat." he said and they headed to the kitchen, he sat down at the table and gestured to the fridge. She opened it and he saw her start.

"There's blood in here." She said looking at him. "I knew you liked the taste of human blood, but not that much."

"It's pigs blood actually, and it's not for me." He said with his arms crossed over his chest.

"If its not for you then who..." her sentence stopped and her eyes went wide. "It's for her?" she asked and Riddick nodded, he could see her adding the things up. The blood, inhuman speed and strength. "Holy fuck Riddick! She's a...a...vampyre?" she said that last word in whisper. He nodded slowly and she sat down. "Really?"

"Really. She's over five thousand, or so she tells me."

"Can she hear us?"

"Yes, and I bet you anything we could talk like R2-D2 and she'd understand us."

"R2 who now?" Jack asked and he sighed.

"Kids these days, no sense of history." Riddick said.

"No kidding." They both looked over to see Victoria leaning in the doorway, her hands in her pants pockets. "I couldn't help but overhear. Might I remind you Riddick, Elias was killed by something or someone that knew what he was that knew how to kill him and best time to. It's that particular reason why my kind does not tell people about our existence." She said and Riddick stood.

"You can trust her Victoria, the only other person she'll tell is probably Imam."

"Imam. Remember when I told you what happened to the last holy man that knew what I was? He was burned at the stake!"

"That was in the twelfth century Victoria, times have changed."

"Not as much as you would think." She said.

"Question." Jack said and Victoria looked at her. "Do you really not have a reflection?"

"No I don't, and to prove it, do you have a mirror?" she asked and Jack took small rectangular one out of her pocket. She handed it to Victoria and stood behind her as she raised it. Jack was the only one in the mirror's image.

"Whoa." She said and Victoria laughed.

"And I don't show up in photographs either." She said and Jack looked at her.

"That is so cool!" Jack said and Riddick cleared his throat making both of them look at him.

"Jack, might I remind you that she's a corpse." Riddick said and Jack glared at him.

"Riddick, I don't care." She said and turned back to Victoria. "You wanna go out for a walk? I bet you just have loads of stories that I'd love to hear." She said and Victoria smiled.

"I do have lots of stories, and I'd love to go for a walk." She said and they turned walking away. "Don't wait up Riddick." She said and they were gone.

Over the next week or so, Victoria and Jack spent a lot of time together. Imam took the news of what Victoria is very well that he accepted it instantly. The sun rose one morning and Victoria was in her coffin, sleeping the day away. Riddick heard something in her room and glanced at his chrono, she won't be awake for another 3 hours. He got up from his bed and went into her room to find Imam about to drive a stake into her chest. He caught his arm and pushed him back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked and noticed the older mans appearance. He looked distraught and enraged.

"I have to kill the monster." He said trying to get at Victoria again. Riddick grabbed the stake twisting it out of Imam's hand and threw it across the room.

"I thought you were fine with what Victoria is." Riddick said and Imam locked eyes with him.

"I was, until Jack came home with puncture scars on her neck." Imam said and Riddick looked at the slumbering vampyre.


	6. VI

Okay, I may not be updating this story and my other ones for a little while. I just started back up with school (today's date 9-7-2004) the eleventh grade....eh. I will try to update my stories whenever I can find the time.

Riddick looked at the sleeping Jack, he went over to the side of her bed and gently brushed her shoulder length brown hair away from her neck seeing two puncture wound scars. He held up his wrist and looked at the identical scars. Rage filled him at what Victoria had done. He left the room going down the stairs and stormed out of the house, making it back to the ship just as the sun was starting to set. He went up to her room closing the door behind him and picked up the stake that was still there, he would wait until the moment she was first waking to drive it into her heart. He wanted her looking at him when he killed her. He positioned it over her heart and the alarm on his chrono went off, her eyelids fluttered and he raised his arm. It was on the downward motion when her eyes snapped open and she caught his arm just as the stake was going to pierce her skin.

Victoria pushed him away with a hiss and leapt out of the coffin landing in a crouched position close to the ground, her fingertips and toes holding her up. She hissed at him again and he saw that her canines were elongated, the look in her eyes anything but human. She rose to her bare feet and he snarled at her, the animal in him coming out. Riddick stripped off his cloak and let it fall to the floor in a black mass. He lunged at her with the stake raised and she stepped to the side knocking it out of his hand with a flick of hers. It flew across the room and skittered on the floor until hitting the wall. She attacked him and he twisted grabbing her arm and throwing her into the wall. He saw her head bounce off the wall and she stayed still for a moment giving him the opportunity to grab her by the back of her neck and throw her into the opposite wall. He smelled blood and smiled evilly, until he found out that it was his, there was a cut on his cheek. He stepped towards her to attack her but she disappeared from the spot and was suddenly in front of him, her arms pinning his to his sides.

"Did you think you could beat me human?" she growled in his ear and her teeth buried into his neck. He tried to break her hold on him but he couldn't and she continued to drain him. Victoria abruptly stopped and pulled away. Something human entering her eyes. "Riddick!" she exclaimed as he dropped to his knees, suddenly very weak. Through tunnel vision he saw her cut her wrist with her nail and hold it to his mouth. "Drink, you'll be stronger." She said and before he thought about it his mouth locked on the wound and he fed from it, swallowing the blood that entered his mouth. The tunnel vision went away and he did indeed feel stronger. Riddick pulled away from the cut and saw it heal. He was then aware of a dark thumping sound, he realized that it was his heart but then he heard another one, a faster stronger one and he realized that it was hers.

"Why did you do it Victoria?" Riddick asked her.

"Do what?"

"Bite Jack." He said and she stood.

"She wanted me to."

"I don't believe that."

"It's the truth."

"Tell me what happened."

"Okay." she said and launched into the story. "We were walking down the street..."

"Victoria?" Jack asked and she looked at her.

"Yes?"

"What's it like to be a vampyre?"

"Very simple, you rise at night, drink blood for food, all you have to worry about is someone finding out who and what you are."

"When you bite someone, does it hurt? For them to be bitten that is."

"If I haven't eaten for a really long time, then yes it hurts, but other times it can be rather enjoyable, it may sting a little though."

"Is there any side effects?"

"Such as?"

"Do they die afterwards?"

"No, not always. I can't speak for others of my kind, but I only take what I need I don't need to kill. They'll feel a little lightheaded afterwards, but it's just like getting blood drawn."

"Have you ever bitten Riddick?"

"Twice, once when I woke up after a fifty years sleep and once when I had to drink human blood."

"How did he react?"

"The first time, he was unconscious when I fed from him, the second..." she ended with a giggle.

"What?"

"He had to go take a cold shower after the second time, for most vampyres feeding from people of the opposite sex is a sexual thing, not just a way to get food. What's with all these questions? What are you getting to Jack?"

"Victoria, I want to know what it feels like, I want you to bite me."

"No, absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"One Riddick will drive a stake through my heart if Imam doesn't beat him to it and two...you're a child."

"To you everyone is a child, Riddick is a child compared to you and you still fed from him."

"I meant mental wise, not age wise. And even if I was, Riddick is 35, you're only 16. See the difference?"

"Please Victoria, I won't ask again I promise." Jack pleaded and looked at her with puppy-dog eyes.

"No, I mean it, no. End of discussion." Victoria said and Jack kept looking at her. "Okay, just stop looking at me like that, no matter how old I get that look always gets me, even though I literally invented that look." Jack smiled.

"Thank you! I promise I won't ask again."

"You better not, now where do you want it?" she asked and Jack tapped her neck. "Of course, the neck. How stupid of me for asking. Come here." She said and pulled Jack into an alleyway. "No one will see us here." She brushed Jack's hair over one shoulder and touched her neck gently, she could feel her pulse quicken under her fingers, she could feel the blood rushing under the surface. Victoria felt the Hunger rise and her canines elongate. She gently pushed Jack's head to one side and bit down on the sensitive flesh, Jack hissed and tensed as her teeth broke through. Victoria began feeding and Jack relaxed, moaning slightly, one of her hands coming up to tangle itself in Victoria's hair. Victoria placed a hand on the other side of Jack's neck while the other went under her shirt slightly to caress the skin of her stomach and waist. She pulled back and licked the wound making it heal, leaving behind a faint scar. She kissed Jack's forehead gently and looked at her.

"That was...amazing." Jack said, her eyes half closed and chest heaving.

"Now never ask me to do that again." She said and Jack nodded. She picked her up in her arms, and in a blur left the alleyway, going to Imam's house. The door opened without her touching it and she went up the stairs and laid Jack on her bed, covering her up with a sheet.

"Victoria?" Jack asked, half-awake and half-asleep.

"Yes Jack?"

"Thank you." she said and Victoria leaned over her.

"No, thank you Jack." She said and kissed her gently on the lips before leaving in a blur.

"That's what happened, believe it or don't, but it's the truth." Victoria said and Riddick put his head in his hands.

"And Jack really enjoyed it."

"Really, really enjoyed it. She's a lesbian I saw it when I fed from her."

"What about you, are you..."

"I have no preference, male female its all the same to me, blood tastes the same." She said and he nodded standing.

"We have to go to Imam's, he's probably still gunning after your undead ass, you have to tell him what happened."

"Okay." she said and they left the ship after she healed his neck. They made it to Imam's and he entered, seeing Imam sitting there with Jack.

"Victoria." Jack said and she nodded at her. "I told Imam what really happened."

"We came here to do just that." Riddick said and Jack stood.

"I keep thinking of it."

"That's normal, it's not everyday that a vampyre bites you." She said and went over her, she stepped in a slow circle around her smelling her neck with her eyes closed, and Jack's eyes fluttered shut and her jaw sagged. Victoria's eyes snapped open and she stepped back.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Jack asked but she shook her head.

"Riddick, Imam we have to talk, Jack you just stay here." Victoria said and the three of them went up to Imam's study.

"What is it that's got you so freaked?" Riddick asked and she shut the door.

"It's Jack, she's bit-struck, I smelled it when I was smelling her blood." Victoria said looking over her shoulder at them.

"Bit-struck? What is that?" Imam asked and she turned around resting her back against the door.

"It has been described as the ultimate drug, the vampyre's bite."

"Jack's addicted." Riddick asked and she nodded closing her eyes. Riddick took out his knife and went towards her.

"If you kill me Riddick, she'll go insane." She said and he stopped in his tracks.

"I do not understand." Imam said sitting down in the chair. "You only bit her once, how can she be addicted?"

"Sometimes all it takes is one time, but it rarely does. That's why I made her promise me to never ask again."

"Wait a minute, you knew that this might happen but you did it anyway?"

"It rarely happens after one time. But there are exceptions."

"In this case, that exception is Jack." Riddick said. "So what happens now?"

"When we leave, we have to take her with us. If we don't it'll be like taking the fix away from a junkie, a good thing in that case a bad thing in this case."

"What'll happen if we don't take her with us?"

"She's either go insane, die, or go looking for other vampyres to get that fix. Not all of them are as nice as me, some of them out there they'll kill her when they're through with her. It'll be safer to take her with us. I can't believe I did this to her." Victoria said and slid down the door to sit on the floor, her shoulders shook as she cried. There was a knock on the door.

"Victoria, are you all right?" it was Jack. "It's like I can feel how much pain you are in, what's wrong?" she got off the floor and opened the door, Jack took her in her arms, but this just made Victoria cry harder. After a while they looked at each other and Jack wiped away red tinted tear tracks with her thumb.

Riddick locked eyes with Imam and they nodded at each other, Jack had to go with Riddick.

"We have to leave, sunrise is in a little while." Riddick said and Victoria nodded.

"I'll walk you guys out." Jack said taking her arms from around Victoria.

"No Jack, you'll be coming with us." Victoria said and she looked at her questioningly.

"I don't understand."

"You're going to be living with us, from now on."

"What about Imam, will he be coming too?" she asked looking at the aging holy man, who looked away.

"No Jack, just you." Riddick said and she nodded.

"Let me get my stuff." Jack said.

"I'll get it, you and Victoria get back to the ship before its too late." He said and she nodded again, Victoria took her hand in her own and they walked away, Riddick and Imam heard the front door open then close.

Victoria and Jack made it back to the ship with only minutes to spare. They went up to Victoria's room and entered.

"Wow, you really do sleep in a coffin. So where will I be staying?"

"In here with me." Victoria said taking off her clothes and laying in the coffin, she knew that Jack needed skin to skin contact whether Jack realized it or not.

"I'll be sleeping in there with you?"

"Yes, come Jack there's not much time left." She said holding her hand out to her; she saw her gulp and heard her heart race.

"Should I...?" Jack asked indicating to her clothes and Victoria shrugged.

"If you want to." She said, knowing full well that she did. Jack disrobed and lay in the coffin; Victoria wrapped her arms around her and pressed their bodies together. She closed the lid on the coffin just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

"How will I breathe?"

"This coffin has air vents cut into the sides." Victoria said. "Now Jack, when the sun rises my heart will stop and I'll stop breathing, essentially I'll die, now it might freak you out but whatever you do you can't leave." She said and felt Jack nod. Jack wrapped her arms around her and laid her head on her chest, hearing her heart beat. The sun peaked over the horizon and she listened as the heartbeat stopped, Victoria exhaled a shaky breath.

"Victoria?" Jack asked but received no answer. She closed her eyes and lay there in the complete darkness until she herself fell asleep.


	7. VII

Damn did Jack have a lot of stuff. By the time Riddick got done moving it all it was after ten in the morning. He put it all in Victoria's room, glancing at the coffin every now and then, tempted to open it but didn't, wary of what he would find inside.

Jack woke to someone running their fingers through her hair, a slow heartbeat loud in her ear.

"Victoria?" she asked.

"Yes?" Victoria responded.

"What time is it?"

"A little after sunset, I didn't want to wake you. You look so peaceful when you sleep. Did you dream?"

"No, I never dream. Can you dream?"

"No."

"Can you see me?"

"Yes."

"But it's absolutely dark in here."

"I have incredibly good night vision." Victoria said and ran her fingers up and down the side of Jack's neck. She made a small noise and felt Victoria shift downward. She laid small kisses on the side of her neck and Jack squirmed against her.

"Please Victoria..." Jack said and felt her teeth pierce her skin. Jack rolled her hips and heard Victoria groan slightly. After a little while she pulled away and healed the wound. Jack could feel her breath on her face and pressed her lips to hers. Victoria kissed back and pressed Jack's body against her own. They pulled away and Victoria left quick little kisses all over her face.

"We need to get out sometime." Victoria said.

"Why?"

"Because if we don't Riddick will wonder what exactly we're doing in here, and knowing him it won't be G rated." She said and Jack laughed. Victoria flung back the top of the coffin but closed it quickly making a small surprised noise.

"What is it?"

"Riddick is out there." She said and cracked the lid. "Riddick go away!"

"Are you both naked?" he asked.

"Yes, now leave." She said and sighed.

"What's he doing?" Jack asked since she had her back to him.

"He's grinning." Victoria said.

"Riddick go away!" Jack said and Riddick laughed.

"Okay, he's gone."

"Are you sure?"

"I can't hear his heartbeat anymore in the room, and besides I don't see him." Victoria said and flung back the lid again. She and Jack got out and Jack looked around.

"Holy shit! He brought all my things." Jack said and pulled clothes out of a box getting dressed. Victoria got dressed also and they left the room hand in hand. They found Riddick grinning in the kitchen, they sat down at the table and he watched them.

"Not one word." Victoria said pointing a finger at him and his grin widened.

"So what exactly did you two do in there?" Riddick asked and Jack winked at Victoria before answering.

"Had wild vampyre sex." Jack said and Victoria laughed at Riddick's shocked expression.

"Really?" he asked suggestively.

"Oh yeah Riddick, Jack's got more freak than Lucky's got charms." Victoria said and they both looked at her strange.

"What?" Riddick asked.

"Little Bit More by Tony C and the Truth?" blank stares, she pinched the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed tight. "You two make me feel so old." Riddick and Jack laughed while she just shook her head and sighed.

"So, what's the game plan for today?" Jack asked Riddick.

"I got a shipment to Ursa 12 that needs to be dropped off. Ursa 12 is about a 5 day travel from here." He said and alarms went off in Victoria's mind.

"What exactly are we shipping?" Victoria asked and Riddick shrugged.

"Armor, weapons, military equipment."

"No long range ballistic missiles?" Jack asked and he smiled shaking his head.

"No, nothing like that, damnit." He said and she smiled back.

"What quadrant of Ursa 12 are we going to?" Victoria asked looking down at the table.

"Uh...Dante Quadrant I believe." He said and her head snapped up to look at him.

"We can't go there, actually I can't go there."

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"There's a vampyre that's the leader of that sector, named Dante he's very territorial. The last outside vampyre to ever go in that sector had his heart ripped out of his chest and was quartered. If I go there, he'll know I am, and he'll kill me and you two also." She said and Jack's eyes widened.

"How would he know that you're there?" Riddick asked.

"Dante has dozens of human spies. I would have to stay inside the entire time we were there, and even then it's a risk. He has a whole army of my kind, if he were to find out that I was there they would storm the ship, kill you two and take me captive so Dante could kill me himself."

"Riddick we can't go!" Jack said.

"We have to. Just stay in the ship, never go out."

"It's a risk I told you that."

"It's a risk you'll have to take."

"No, it's a risk we all will have to take." Victoria said and stood from the chair, vanishing.


	8. VIII

They arrived on Ursa 12 when Victoria and Jack were asleep. Riddick landed the ship in the docking port and shut down the engines. He dropped the cargo, but the next window to leave was in three days. So he went out to stretch his legs, got some really good coffee at a café and headed back to the ship after sunset.

When he got inside, he found Jack and Victoria awake and in the kitchen. Jack was eating and Victoria was watching her wistfully.

"I really miss solid foods and eating normally." Victoria said and continued to watch her eat.

"The next window to launch is in three days." Riddick said and she nodded at him.

"Okay, not a problem, even though the longer we stay here the longer Dante has to find out that I'm here."

"There's nothing I can do about it." Riddick said and she looked at him.

"Did I say that you did have power of the situation?" she asked evenly, even though her face was calm he could feel something pushing on him.

"Could you stop that?" he asked and she cocked her head at him.

"Stop what?"

"Whatever you're doing."

"Really Riddick I'm not doing anything." she said and the weight lifted, Jack gasped and the fork fell from her hand as she felt it.

"What is that?" Jack asked and sighed. "It's gone." Victoria snarled getting up from the chair, her canines long.

"I'm thinking she's feeling it too." Riddick said and they watched as Victoria calmed down, her teeth shrinking back to normal.

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"Someone was investigating us. Dante was investigating us, he's concluded that you two are human, but me..."

"He knows what you are. How old is Dante?" Riddick asked.

"Very old."

"Is he strong?"

"Not particularly, no." she said.

"Then why are you scared of him?"

"Who said I was frightened?"

"You don't have to say it." Riddick said and she snarled.

"I'm not afraid of anything human." She said.

"Whatever you say." Riddick said but his tone of voice suggested that he didn't believe her.

"Riddick stop." Jack said and he looked at her.

"Stop what?"

"Baiting her, provoking her, take your pick." Jack said, still looking at Riddick Victoria went behind her and leaned over, placing small kisses on her neck. "Victoria..." Jack said trying to sound annoyed but her voice was wavering. Riddick watched as Victoria bit her slightly making her moan. In a blurry move Victoria was sitting in the chair and Jack was straddling her lap facing her. Riddick watched as Victoria's elongated canines slid into Jack's neck and Jack shuddered. Jack's hips started to roll and he watched, unable to look away, as one of Victoria's hands went between Jack's legs making her cry out. Victoria withdrew and closed the wound; Jack's head rolled and she made small tired noises. Victoria stood with Jack in her arms and vanished. Riddick walked stiff legged up to his room and laid down on his bed. There was a small knock and the door opened, giving him just enough time to put a pillow on his lap.

Victoria stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and a small grin on her face.

"Did you enjoy the show?" she asked and he swallowed.

"It was...interesting. How is she?"

"Sleeping soundly. She won't wake until sunrise, which is hours and hours from now." she said and stepped into the room. She went over to the side of the bed and he sat up. She climbed into the bed and sat on her knees, he watched her. She took the pillow from his lap and grinned at the bulged fabric. She grasped his chin with her hand and pressed their lips together. His arms came around her back and pressed her to him as they kissed, she sat on his lap and ran her hands down his neck. They removed his shirt and she kissed along his chest. Riddick removed her camisole shirt and pressed her into him as they kissed again. "Riddick I have to warn you..."

"What?"

"I haven't done this in a pretty long, long time." she said and he looked at her.

"How long?"

"About nine hundred years, give or take a century." She said and his eyes widened.

"That is a really long time for no sex." He said as he ran his hands along her skin.

"No kidding. I just...oh god." She said as somewhat familiar feelings coursed through her body. He ran his fingers just inside the waistband of her jeans and they lay back on his bed, kissing again.

Hour's later Victoria got up and gathered her clothes into her arms, not bothering getting dressed again. Riddick watched her as she did this. She went over to him and kissed his lips shortly.

"Thank you, I had forgotten how good that felt." She said and he smiled at her.

"Well I was blown away, sex with a five thousand year old vampyre feels incredible." Riddick said and stretched.

"I've got to go, sunrise is in a few minutes."

"One question."

"Yes?"

"Where did you learn that trick you did with your legs?"

"Let's just say I knew the authors of the original Kama Sutra, nice couple, very friendly." She said and he grinned but said nothing. She left and his chrono alarm went off saying it was sunrise. Riddick got up, pulled on a pair of boxers and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

When he was done, he got dressed and went down to the kitchen area to find a very tired looking Jack sitting at the table, sipping juice.

"Victoria's asleep." She said not looking at him.

"Did she...take from you again?"

"No, she said that she was fine and that I should just get something to eat and build up my strength. When you and she...um...did it. Did she take from you?"

"How did you know that she and I had sex?"

"I just know. I could see it when I looked at her and now you. Now answer my question."

"I think so, I'm not quite sure. I think I remember a small pain on my...neck." Riddick said and his mind flashed to the two small puncture wounds on the inside of his thigh, right where the femoral artery was. She had bit there right before she... a low growl escaped his throat, so low that Jack didn't hear it. But she knew something was up so she perked an eyebrow at him, going back to her juice with a small grin. The grin disappeared as she yawned widely. "Still tired?"

"A little, but I can't go back to bed because I don't have one."

"Go sleep in my room."

"No I can't do that, I can't be surrounded by her scent and your scent all mixed up together with the smell of um...intercourse." Jack said with a slight pink twinge to her cheeks.


	9. IX

Victoria was pacing restlessly. She hated being cooped up for so long.

"Could you stop that? You're making me dizzy." Riddick said and she shot him a dark look. "Sorry I asked."

"How long is it until we can leave?"

"Two days."

"Bugger."

"Come on, let's go for a walk."

"Not until we're out of the sector."

"You're going to tear this place apart if you don't have some kind of physical stimulation." Riddick said and she perked an eyebrow at him, smirking slightly. "Besides that. Anyway I got you something that will help you stay anonymous." She gave a questioning look and he stood from his chair and went to his closet pulling out a hooded cloak that was like his but smaller, Victoria sized. He tossed it at her and she caught it one hand, holding it up, she draped it over her shoulders, doing the silver clasp. She put up the hood; it completely masked her face in shadows. "It suits you." She lowered the hood and looked at him.

"Thank you. Even though if we go out we'll look like the Bobsey Twins." Blank look. "Never mind."

"Let's go for a walk. Jack's asleep; she'll be out for a while." Riddick said and she thought for a long moment.

"Okay, just let me check on her." Victoria said and vanished from the room.

She leaned over the open coffin and kissed Jack on the forehead. Her eyes opened slowly and looked up at her.

"Victoria?" she asked and Victoria smiled down at her kindly.

"I'll be right back." She said and kissed her lips.

"Love you Victoria." Jack said as she slipped under again.

"I love you too Jack." She vanished from the room silently and left Jack to sleep.

She and Riddick were walking through the small town, they both had their cloaks on and the hoods were up, both wearing black underneath. The only thing that set them apart was the height; Riddick was taller than her by several inches. She stopped suddenly, gasping and putting her hand to a building side, her other hand clutched to her chest.

"Victoria? What's wrong?" Riddick asked.

"Its Jack, she's in danger. She needs me!" Victoria and she flickered for a second. "I can't get to her, something's blocking me." She said and they took off running. When they got to the ship they immediately went up to the room to find it empty, the smell of Jack's fear and panic filling the room. The coffin was overturned and on the floor. She went to it and bent down, putting her hand under the edge she picked it up with amazing strength and threw it, it broke into pieces against the wall. The bestial roar she gave out raised the hairs on his body and sent every defense into play. She looked down and saw a black rose on the floor. She picked it up and wrapped her hand around the bloom, squeezing. Blood seeped between her fingers and fell in droplets to the floor. "Dante has her." She said through gritted fangs, all semblance of humanity gone completely from her eyes. Pure, undiluted rage coursed through his body and he saw red.

"We need to go get her." He struggled to get out and some humanity entered her eyes.

"If we just charge the gates, we'll both die and they'll kill her. We have to have a plan of action. I'm going to go scout." She said and walked to the doorway. "Stay here." She commanded before she vanished.

"Dante! Sir! There's a vampyre outside the gates." A human servant sitting at a computer consul said and a vampyre went over.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"I don't know Sir, it's cloaked. But my money is on the girls master." He said and Dante nodded.

"What's it doing?"

"Just looking Sir."

"Not looking servant, scouting the territory." Dante said with a small smile. "This one is different than the others, smarter, older, stronger." The cloaked figure vanished. "And much more powerful. Finally, a vampyre worth killing."

Riddick laid in wait for her, knowing exactly where she would reappear. She appeared in the room she had shared with Jack, she went into a crouched position and wept. Going to her, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to his room, laying her down on his bed. He lay next to her and held her as she cried red tears.

Victoria woke up in Riddick's arms, his pillow stained red with blood tears. He woke up a short time later and smiled a slow smile at her.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi." Victoria said in confusion. "What time is it?" he looked around for his alarm clock.

"Ten in the morning. Wait a second...morning? Why aren't you dead?"

"I don't know." She said and got up. She found his window hatch and opened the door, sunlight streaming in. She instinctively jumped back but slowly stretched out a hand, putting it into the light. Her skin didn't burn or sizzle. She looked at him smiling and vanished.

He found her in the cargo hold, standing just outside the sunlight coming in through the open ramp.

"I'm scared to go out into the light Riddick. I've lived in dark for so long." She said not looking at him. "Just out of curiosity, what's today's date?"

"September 18, 6005." Riddick said and she smiled.

"Today's my birthday, sort of. I lied. I was made a vampyre in the year 5005 BC. Today I turn twelve thousand years old; I am the oldest living vampyre. Elias didn't make me I made him; every vampyre in existence comes from my line. I am the first vampyre ever. He was scared what it meant to be the first so he locked me away, to protect the world from me." Victoria said and stepped out into the sunlight.


	10. X

Victoria vanished as she stepped out of the ship and he ran up to his room, grabbing his cloak and putting it on.

Riddick found her in a park, sitting on a bench, watching as children played. He sat down next to her.

"Why did you lie to me? To Jack?" he asked and she looked at him.

"What I am now, is not how I was then. I would have killed these children as soon as look at them, drain them dry. I killed many people, men, women, children, didn't matter."

"If you're the first, how did you become what you are?"

"For an ancient ritual I drank the blood of a purely evil man, a sorcerer. His blood killed me, but I didn't stay dead, I became the first immortal, the first vampyre." She said and looked back at the children. In the sunlight her dark hair gleamed and her skin was almost translucent, her blue veins visible underneath. "You couldn't possibly begin to fathom what it's like to be as old as I am. I love you and Jack because you're human. Human life is fragile; you are schooled in that lesson more than others; but I am the professor."

"Very philosophical." Riddick said and she shot him another look.

"I was married once to a man I didn't love. I killed him, stabbed him in his sleep. I did this before I became a vampyre, or night-demon as they were called back then. I hated my husband, he hurt me, raped me every night until I was pregnant with his child, he killed the newborn when he found out it wasn't a boy. The process began all over again until I delivered his son. I killed my husband, became what I am and took care of my child. I watched the boy grow up to become just like his father. History repeated itself and his own abused wife killed him in his sleep. Only she wasn't as fortunate as I and she was executed."

"Tough break." Riddick muttered and she smiled showing fang, they seemed almost too white in the bright sunlight. Her smile vanished as if someone had flicked a switch and her eyes filled with sadness.

"I need Jack back, I miss her." She said and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and stroked her shoulder.

"We'll get her back Victoria, I promise. Come on; let's go back to the ship. We need to strategize." Riddick said and felt her nod against his shoulder. They stood from the bench and walked back to the ship in silence.

Day was quickly turning into night, and as the sun set they were in the second cargo hold, looking at Victoria's range of weapons.

"I think we should just go in there and slaughter them."

"There will be humans in there Riddick, but they shall be sleeping, for these humans are the day-time guardians of the vampyres."

"So what do you think we should use? Guns, knives, wooden stakes?"

"We will let them capture us."

"Excuse me?" he asked and she looked at him.

"Riddick, based on the scans that I did, we'll never be able to fight our way in. They have to bring us in."

"What about weaponry?"

"I don't need any and well you...they won't consider you a threat because after all, you are human. So just strap some wooden weapons to your body along with regular ones and you'll be set. I'll be guiding you through your fight if you come up against a vampyre."

"How will you do that?"

"We exchanged blood remember?" she said, _"I can whisper in your mind."_ He blinked rapidly hearing her voice caress the walls of his conscious mind.

"Can I do the same?" he asked and she nodded.

"We have a mental link now. Just think and I'll be able to hear you."

"Has it always been like this?"

"Ever since you drank my blood, yes. So that means I have heard every lewd thought you've had of me since then. Why do you think I made a move on you in the first place?"

"You didn't want to?"

"Oh I wanted to, I just loved it that you _really_ wanted to." She said and smiled, flashing fang. "Now get suited up and let's go." Riddick strapped wooden knives and stakes to his body along with his regular shivs and they left the ship, going out into the night.


	11. XI

As they approached the mansion-like estate, Riddick could feel a terrible sense foreboding pressing down on him, telling him to run away.

"Ignore it, that's what happens when too many vampyres collect in one spot." Victoria said reading his mind. They approached the wrought iron gates and she looked up at the camera on the stone column on one side of the gate. "DANTE!" she roared making the metal of the gate shake. "You have something of mine! I've come for it!" the gates creaked open and they walked in, the gates swinging closed behind them and latching back together with an ominous clang.

"Could they get more horror movie cliched?" Riddick murmured and she snorted. They walked up to the mansion and the front door swung open as they approached. "That was too easy."

"Yes, it was." Victoria said and he looked over at her. Her brow furrowed as she looked around the suspiciously empty hall. "Far too easy."

"Victoria Greco. The first of the vampyres." A man was suddenly standing at the foot of the sweeping staircase leading up to the upper floors.

"Dante Scariot." She said nodding her head at him.

"Oh come now mother. Do we really need to be formal?" he asked and Riddick looked at Victoria again.

"You're his mother? You failed to mention that." He said and she looked down, her hair falling and shielding her features.

"Yes human. She is my Dark Mother. She made me what I am today, a vampyre. Oh by the way mother. Did you happen to speak with your favorite son recently?" she looked up at this, looking at Dante with a furrowed brow. "Its funny how he said your name, before he died."

"You killed Elias." She whispered.

"Yes, I did." Dante said smiling. "Drove the stake through his heart myself, chopped his head off and them left him outside for the dawn."

"Why?" she asked and his face contorted in rage.

"Because you loved him more than your other children! More than me! It was he you chose to be your eternal companion! Not I!"

"You were jealous? That's why you killed him. I explained to you why it had to be he."

"All that nonsense about him being more patient, more understanding, was just that, nonsense! I should have been your eternal companion! He was unworthy of your love!"

_Riddick,_ Her voice rubbed against his mind. _There's a vampyre on your right side in the shadows. He's young, only about a hundred. Get a stake ready, and remember, aim for the heart._ He twitched a muscle in his forearm and stake that had been strapped loosely to his arm dropped into his hand, hidden by the long sleeves of the leather coat he had put on shortly before leaving.

"And now you have this human! This deer who is unworthy of your gaze. Humans are food and you've taken one for a mate! And the girl! You're in love with the girl! A _human girl_!" Dante ranted.

"I just want her back Dante. Give her back to me and I'll leave." Victoria said slowly as if taking to a child.

"You don't understand! I don't want you to leave! That's why I took the girl! I knew you'd come for her and then you'd be mine forever."

"Just give her to me Dante and I'll stay."

"I don't believe you."

"Give her back to me and I'll give her over to Riddick. Then I'll send them away and I'll stay here with you for as long as you want me." She sounded honest, too honest.

_Victoria, I'm not leaving here without you._ Riddick thought.

_I have no intention of staying here Riddick. Dante has gone mad. You have that stake ready?_

_Yes, just give me the signal._

_Get ready for it._

"You promise?" Dante asked.

"I promise. Now bring her out." Victoria asked but he hesitated. "Please my son, bring her out." Dante beamed when she called him her son.

"Bring out the girl!" he yelled and door off to their left side opened. A tall vampyre came out with a limp and deathly pale Jack in his arms. She had been fed on heavily. They could see several fresh bite marks on her neck, wrists and the bend of her arms. Only they weren't neat punctures, the flesh had been torn. The vampyre approached them and laid Jack on the floor, retreating quickly, sensing the power in Victoria's blood. Victoria dropped to her knees and picked wrapped her arms around Jack, picking her shoulders off the floor so she could hold her to her chest.

"Jack, my Jack." she whispered and Jack's hand twitched, she came awake groaning and Victoria pulled away a bit so she could look at her.

"Victoria?" she asked, squinting up at her face. Victoria tucked Jack's hair behind her ear and stroked her cheek.

"Yes my Jack, I'm here."

"They bit me Victoria. So many times. But it wasn't like when you bite me. It hurt, a lot." Jack said weakly.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Riddick asked warily, looking down at her.

"They took too much in too little a time. She's dying." Victoria said, tinted tears running down her face. Jack's shaky hand rose and wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't cry Victoria. Please don't cry. I can feel your sadness." Jack said and Victoria leaned over, putting her head on her chest, listening to her slowing heartbeat.

_That vampyre is still on your right. I can smell Jack's blood in him. Kill the bastard._

_Don't have to tell me twice._ Riddick's suddenly flung out, releasing the stake and he watched as it imbedded itself into the vampyres chest, spearing its heart. The vampyre fell to the ground and slowly began to disintegrate; becoming a pile of ash and bones since the stake had been dipped in holy water. Victoria settled Jack very carefully back onto the marble floor and in the blink of an eye was in front of the vampyre who had carried Jack in, her arm buried in chest. Her mouth opened and her fangs dropped as she ripped out his heart and then feasted on it. The body fell to the floor and she dropped the dry husk of the heart to the floor.

"This is how you wish to gain my favor Dante? By killing someone I love?" she asked as she advanced on him.

"If they're dead then you won't be thinking of them when you share my bed."

"Share your bed? A little incestuous don't you think?"

"You didn't birth me, you made me. So you aren't really my mother. I've wanted you since you made me. My Angel of Death." He reached towards her but she dodged his hand.

"You disgust me Dante." She spat and he became enraged.

"Kill the human! Drain him dry!" he roared and Victoria looked over seeing vampyres forming a circle around Riddick.

"Riddick!" she yelled and tried to go to his aid but Dante splashed something in her eyes that burned like fire, burning her eyes and blinding her, Holy Water. He tossed the small bottle away and punched her in the stomach, driving her to her knees.

"The human made you weak _mother._" He said and backhanded her, knocking her to the floor.

Riddick stabbed the first vampyre that came at him with a wooden knife under the ribs and it disintegrated onto the floor. There was a blur and a sharp pain; blood started to course down his chest from the deep wound. A vampyre licked its long, sharp claws. Smelling the blood, all of their fangs dropped and they rushed him at the same time.

Victoria closed her eyes, feeling them heal themselves as her body absorbed Dante's blows.

"Victoria!" she heard Riddick yell and smelled blood, his blood. She caught Dante's foot as he was about to kick her again and she opened her fully healed eyes, her fangs dropped. She pushed his foot away and stood, striking him across the face and sending him flying across the room. She looked over at Riddick and found him being feasted on.

"Stop." She said, putting all of her power in it and the vampyres froze, withdrawing from him and letting him fall to the floor next to Jack. "Dawn is here, walk out into it. Now." She compelled and they turned and walked to the door, opening them and walking out into the dawn, their screams were blocked as the doors swung close. She went to Riddick and pulled him into her lap. "Riddick?" she asked lightly and he opened his eyes, looking at her.

"Victoria, I'm so cold."

"I'll make you warm again."

"Save Jack. Don't worry about me, just save her." he said and she nodded, setting him very gently back on the floor. She grabbed Jack and stroked her face until she woke. She was fading fast and wouldn't last the next couple minutes. Victoria bit open her wrist and put it to Jack's mouth.

"Drink my love." She said and Jack clutched her wrist as she drank her blood. The bite marks on her body healed, her skin becoming smooth and whole. Victoria pulled her wrist away, healing it and laid Jack back on the floor. "Now sleep." She said and bushed down her eyelids. Jack went to a dead sleep as Victoria's blood converted her.

"NO!" she heard and saw Dante running towards them. Victoria met in him a blur and twisted his head to the side.

"You will aid me _my son_. Aid me better than you could possibly imagine." She whispered against his neck and slid her fangs into her jugular, feeding on him and draining him dry. The husk fell to the floor and dissolved into ash. Victoria went back over to Riddick and found him hanging on by a thread. She sat on the floor and pulled him once more into her lap. "Riddick," she whispered. "Riddick open your eyes. Open those beautiful mercury eyes." his long lashes fluttered open and he looked up at her. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed and he cleared his dry throat.

"Is Jack going to be okay?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yes, she's going to be just fine." Victoria said smiling down at him.

"Okay. Now I get to rest. No more mercs, no more running, I finally get to rest." He said, his eyes closed and she heard his heart skip a beat.

"Riddick, look at me." His eyes didn't open. "Richard, please look at me." He opened his eyes hearing his first name and he looked at her. "I can't let you go."

"Please let me go." He pleaded.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I love you."

"I love you too." He said and she began to cry. "Don't cry Victoria. You'll have Jack now."

"I love Jack, but I am _in love_ with you." she said and his brow furrowed. "I can see me spending eternity with you, and I mean eternity." She said and raised her hand to her neck, slicing open her skin with her nail. With her hand cradling the back of his head, she pressed his face into her neck and his lips to the bleeding cut. His lips were motionless against her neck and she started to cry again, then she felt the pull of her blood through the cut, his lips forming suction on the gash.

Riddick fed from the cut on her neck, her blood was like the purest wine. He could feel it reshaping him inside, fixing everything. The bites healed but he kept on feeding. Her hand stroked the back of his head and he sat up, releasing her neck shortly before pulling her into _his_ lap and feeding again, his arms around her waist.

_Eternity…_ her voice whispered in his head and he pulled back, sensing her weakness. He licked the cut and watched as it healed. Riddick pulled her down with him as he lay on the floor of the hall, suddenly tired and watched her as she fell into dead sleep. His eyes closed and listened as his heart gave one last beat, then was silent. He fell into dead sleep; his arms still around the woman he loved, his Dark Mother.

"Riddick my love, wake up." He heard and groaned, hearing his heart starting to beat again.

"Five more minutes." He groaned and heard the most beautiful laughter.

"Come on Riddick! Get up!" it was Jack's voice now. His eyes opened and they settled on Victoria and Jack. Jack looked like living marble and when she smiled at him, he could see that her canines and the teeth in front of them were wickedly pointed. She was a vampyre now. Victoria stroked his face and he caught her hand, kissing her cool palm.

"Victoria! I'm starving!" Jack said and they laughed. "You said that we would get something to eat when Riddick woke up, well he's awake now!"

"Go check the downstairs cellars, there's a door under the right side of the stairway leading down. There's should be wine bottles filled with blood down there."

"How do you know?" Jack asked.

"Because I designed this house. Now go." She said and Jack vanished. "She's been doing that for the past hour, she's actually getting pretty good." Victoria said and helped Riddick sit up. She removed his leather coat and ran her hands over his arms and chest, her hand slipping into the tear in his tank top to caress his chest. His skin seemed hypersensitive her to touch and his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of her hand on his skin. There was the sound of heavy glass being set down next to him and he opened his eyes, seeing Jack sipping from a wine bottle. He grabbed the one she had set down next to him and pulled the cork out with his teeth, spitting it out and taking a long drink out of the bottle, draining half of it. His heart beat quickened and he sighed, feeling his muscles strengthen. His tongue roamed over his teeth and he gently felt his fangs, there was a quick, sharp pain and he tasted his own blood. He looked over at Jack and perked an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked, looking over the top of the bottle.

"You look older."

"That's because I am older. Victoria explained this one to me. Her blood aged me to physical maturity so I wouldn't be sixteen for the rest of my eternity. You already passed physical maturity so you stayed the same. But technically, and she explained this one to me too, we're the same age."

"Ya wanna run that by me again?" Riddick asked and she smiled, flashing fang.

"We died as humans and were reborn as vampyres. Our slates are wiped clean, figuratively speaking of course. We are now at Age Zero." She explained and took another long swallow from the bottle, color flooding her cheeks. Riddick nodded and offered the rest of the bottle to Victoria but she waved it off.

"You need it more than I do." She said and he raised it to his lips, draining the rest of it.

"Just think Riddick, if mercs thought you had a blood fetish _before_. They're in for a huge surprise now." Jack said and Riddick laughed as he set down the empty bottle.

"Ah mercs, what in the hell am I going to do about them?" he asked and Victoria shrugged.

"Food?" Jack suggested and he grimaced.

"No thank you. If I recall correctly, and I always do, feeding for a vampyre is a sexual thing. Feeding from mercs? Well if it was a really attractive female merc maybe. But I don't think so." Riddick said.

"Can I?"

"Okay, but you have to get rid of the bodies, and figure out a way to disguise their true cause of death." Riddick said then paused, reality finally sinking in. "I'm a vampyre." He said and Jack and Victoria laughed, he looked at the ancient in front of him. "Jack's a vampyre. You made us into vampyres." He said and her smile fell, her eyes growing sad.

"I was afraid you would hate me." She said and he cocked his head to the side.

"Why would I hate you?"

"As you were dying, you told me to let you rest, to die. You pleaded with me to let you die and I didn't. I was selfish and made you a vampyre so we could stay together." She said looked down and he tilted her chin up with a finger.

"Thank you." he said and kissed her on the lips shortly.

* * *

I know it seems as if I rushed things, but the sequel has been buzzing through my head for weeks and if I don't get it out soon, I'll go crazy. There'll probably be one more chapter after this, and then the story is done and then I'll start piecing together the random pictures and words in my head, put them in order and write the sequel. 


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